


The Riddening World

by Misul



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universes, F/F, F/M, Fighting, GUESS WHOS BACK, Grim Reapers, Inspired by Dreams, Weapons, back again
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-09-19 07:37:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9427004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misul/pseuds/Misul
Summary: In a high school of about 2000 students, there is a secretive workforce among them. They rid the world of bad souls and spirits, and try to keep three separate worlds in working order at all times: Real World, Spirit World and The Riddening World.





	1. Scathing Incident

Wu Shang Lee, a high school student. While walking down a deserted hallway to get to his next class, a weird feeling struck him. Like something just scathed his back; from his nape to his tailbone, an excruciating feeling of pain froze him in place. While his consciousness slowly slipped away from under his feet, he heard faint footsteps coming up behind him, and yelling that he couldn't specifically class as a language that an ordinary person would speak. After the yelling faded, a small breeze came over him while he still shriveled up more and more from the pain radiating from his back.

"Hey, you okay there Lee?" A somewhat familiar voice rang in his ears. His summer uniform soon became stained with blood, in a straight line right across his back. "Gah, he attacked you, didn't he?" The voice took out their phone from their pockets, the ' _bip bip bip_ ' of a phone followed by a request for the ambulance.

"Who... Are you?" Lee managed to muster some courage to mutter the three words, while laying on the floor, his voice being quite limited by the amount of pain that was coming from his back.

"Me? I'm Akihabara. From class 3-B. We're in the same class, weirdo." She stood up and twirled a black key in between her fingers. "Can you see this?" She asked him, curious about something. Lee's eyes widened at the sight of what was in Akihabara's hand. A scythe as tall as her, maybe even taller than her, shimmering in a red and pink hue, but blue streaks emitting from the area where she held the scythe.

"What is that?!" Lee yelled, but soon wincing at the pain from his back. Akihabara rolled her eyes and let go of the scythe, making it shrink to the black key again in a really small burst of shards, that looked similar to ice.

"I'll talk to you about that later. The ambulance is here. I'm surprised you're still awake from that cut." Akihabara smiled. "Please keep on living though." They could hear yells coming from downstairs, followed by a flurry of footsteps. "They're here." Akihabara ran up to a staff member, explaining what had happened, while the other staff put Lee on a stretcher and carried him to the ambulance. "I was walking to my class like usual, and I just saw this guy laying on the floor with a red line on his back, which I thought was blood, so I called the ambulance. He was responsive and said that he felt excruciating pain from his back, which made my hypothesis correct, that something had happened to him. Please, take good care of him." She bowed, making the staff run back to his group.

Lee eventually had his last strings on consciousness slip away and break, closing his eyes and making the staff panic a little more than usual.

* * *

_"What the hell did I get cut from? Why did Aki have that weird scythe with all the glitter stuff? Is there a world that I don't know about or something? How deep is my cut? How often do people get these things? Where am I going to?"_ A surprising amount of questions drifted through Lee's mind as he was being transported to the nearest hospital possible. The staff tried to wake him up but failed each time they tried, hooking him up to an oxygen tank and more. His subconscious also tried to wake him up, but the many questions that were being explored in Lee's mind fogged up the response. More like delayed it.

Lee slowly opened his eyes, his face half covered with a pillow, and the quiet beeping of a electrocardiogram right next to him. He slowly moved his fingers around to check if he was still able to move. The nurse that was supposed to be taking care of him noticed his fingers moving about and instantly called the doctor. Lee also felt the gentle and feathery-like hospital bandages on his whole torso, which seemed to be keeping some kind of large patch in place on his spine as he twitched around to get a grip on reality. After he finally grounded himself, he tried to move his neck to look around, but soon got yelled at by the doctor to stop moving. He did so, remembering that his nape was cut. After his memories flooded back into his mind, he huffed and kept still.

"How long will I be here for?" Lee asked, his speech being slightly muffled by the pillow that was helping keep his back straight. The doctor looked at his clipboard that was filled with information.

"About a week. Might be earlier, depending on your metabolism and how quickly your back heals. Anyway, let me get to the point. Your cut has been stitched up with stitches that will dissolve after a certain time. Your heart rate is slightly above average, but nothing to worry about too much, and the girl that helped you said that she will come to you after school.

"Akihabara..." Lee muttered. _'Its obvious she would check up on me. I mean, she is the class rep, so she's like a student-mother to all of us.'_ Lee closed his eyes, moving his toes around and rotating his ankles, hearing them crack, making him satisfied. "How long 'till I will be able to walk around?"

"You should be able to walk around now, but the stitches were only done three hours ago, so please refrain from any violent movements that could cause the stitches to break." The doctor bowed. "I will be checking up on you in some time. The cafeteria is right across this room. There's a few vending machines with drinks and snacks. Please try to avoid caffeine."

"Okay, thank you." Lee nodded in response, slowly trying to get up, feeling the slight resistance of the stitches across his back. "I'm gonna get a cool scar now." He gave a thumbs up as he just about managed to sit on the edge with the help of the doctor. The doctor smiled and ruffled the boy's hair, walking off to his office.

"Be good." The doctor said to Lee, shutting his door to his office. Lee looked at his phone, checking the time. He took a deep breath, seeing that school will end soon. He stood on his feet, wobbling a little, but not too much so that he will topple over and fall. Step by step, he made his way to the cafeteria, getting used to the weird support that was being given by his injured back. An awkward stiffness came from the wraps on his body as he pushed the doors open to the cafeteria, and decided to get a cup of water from the dispenser.

"Blub blub." Lee muttered, the machine going _glug glug_. Sipping on the water, he heard a familiar voice coming from the reception desk, followed by his name. _'Aki's here.'_ He thought to himself, slowly walking out of the cafeteria and looking behind the corner.

Aki turned around, seeing a familiar face. "Lee!" She called, running over to him, a gentle hug pressed against him. "Thank goodness you're good and you can walk!" She smiled. Lee winced a little at the pain as Akihabara hugged him, but smiled. "Ah - Sorry." Aki stepped back, a little embarrassed. She brushed her dark hair out of her face, looking down.

"It's okay. I'll be staying here for a week or so, just so you know. Doctor said I can eat the things I normally do, but I should avoid caffeine. So I'm gonna have to drop the energy drinks in the morning. At least I'll get well rested while I'm here."

"You're addicted to energy drinks, aren't you?" Aki chuckled.

"They're my favourite thing." Lee smiled, sipping on the water he held in his hand.

"Also, I've been working on a thing." She took out two black, fingerless leather gloves with some kind of pattern dyed in red on the palms. "Put them on, and clap, swinging your arms. You can do a simple clap if you get to an advanced level with these. Heck, I could enchant the same pattern on your trousers so you can just activate one glove at a time."

Lee nodded, slipping the gloves on, hesitant. He put his arms behind him and swung them, the two hands connecting. A burst of flames appeared from his fingertips, slowly crawling to his wrists. A tingling feeling overcame his body as adrenaline surged throughout his bloodstream, the brown-haired boy looking amazed at the gauntlets that have just been created. His arms went to his sides as the gauntlets were too heavy.

"How do I take them off?" He asked, almost laying on the floor.

"Oh, just let them go. By the way, if anyone sees the 'ordinary' leather gloves, just say you wear them because they look cool. Not that they are a Reaper item." Aki showed him her key. "The more advanced you get with those, the more you can use them and the more versatile and flexible you can be in a battle."

"Okay then." Lee let the gauntlets go from the inside and saw two leather gloves drop to the floor. He picked them up and put them in his pocket. "Thanks, Aki." He gave her a thumbs up before walking to the room he had to reside in for the time being.

"Oh, Lee." Aki reminded herself of something, making Lee turn around. "By the way, you aren't a full Grim Reaper yet. Please understand that you are still as vulnerable as a human." Lee looked down, a little disappointed, but nodded, understanding the situation he was in.

"See you later then, Aki." Lee waved, opening the doors to his room. Aki waved back, leaving the hospital altogether.

* * *

Aki walked home with her hands behind her back, looking like the average, innocent girl, with her Reaper Item stashed away in the front pocket of her bag just in case she needs to quick-draw. She constantly thought about the scene of the Ridden Soul attacking Lee, but soon shook it off. _'Being marked by a Ridden Soul makes your life cursed. If the Ridden that has marked you somehow get back to the person it marked, there's going to be trouble. The Ridden will try and rid the pure soul from the body in attempt to take on a new life. A Grim Reaper that has been marked, and gets taken over is just... It's near undefeatable.'_ A shiver went through her body.

"Aki!" A voice called from behind Akihabara, making her turn around.

"Ah, hey, sweets." Aki ruffled the hair of person. "Sorry that you barely saw me today."

"It's fine. Were you getting rid of the Riddening again?" A small kiss was planted on Aki's cheek.

"Yup. You always know what I'm up to, Miro." Aki gave a warm smile. "Wanna go get coffee?" She asked, making Miro nod in agreement. A happy feeling went through both of them as the held hands on the empty roads, knowing that their small town wasn't very fond of same-sex relationships.

"So, Miro. What did you learn?" Aki asked, knowing that she will reply with something about the alternate worlds that they could travel to.

"I uhh..." Miro paused, thinking. "I found out that some of the Riddening that exists can eat souls and gain their powers. They also obtain the powers of Grim Reapers if they eat their souls. You know, their Reaper Item. They can take that." Miro looked up at Aki, her tiny voice being overly cute for someone from a 3rd year class. Aki nodded to hear the information.

"Did you kill any Riddenings yet?" Aki asked. "Because there's one incoming above us." Aki took out her key and spun it around in her fingers, the handle first extending, then the blade sprouting from the top. Miro grabbed her hairpins and took them out of her hair, muttering two names.

"Shiro, Kuro." The hairpins changed into two blades, one black and one white, both engraved with similar patterns. The sharp edges of the blades were the opposite colour of their main body. "Shiro." Miro pointed the white blade upwards, forming a circular shield to guard them from the initial impact of the falling Riddening.

"There it goes, ripping through the sky mercilessly." Aki didn't specifically take on a stance, but instead stared up into the sky, waiting for the perfect time to attack. As the Riddening began to fall through the sky, at the last second, Aki swung her scythe in a diagonal-upwards motion, also taking her body with it. While trying to keep her body in a stable axel formation, Miro unsummoned the shield she had created, making Aki take care of the rest of the work. With Aki's attack, she only managed to cut the arm of the Riddening at the elbow.

"This guy's tough." Miro's thin voice said, "Kuro." She muttered quite dryly and threw the black blade at the Riddening, just about managing to cut off his other arm. As the blade came back in a boomerang-like arch, Miro caught it, and instantly walked back to let Aki finish the guy off. Aki nodded and jumped up, swinging her scythe vertically, digging the point of the blade into the head of the abnormally large and fanged creature. With a twist of her handle, she opened a black and red gate which then swallowed the Riddening whole, then closed. Miro put the two swords to her head, which transformed into her hairpins again in a gentle flash of light. Akihabara dropped her scythe and caught the key, putting it away in her bag.

"What a disturbance." Aki muttered, slightly annoyed. Miro nodded in agreement to Aki's statement. "Let's get going, then?"

 

_'Now let's just hope we can live until the Ridden Shadow comes around.'_


	2. Amayachi Rin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Lee has obtained a Reaper Item and Akihabara and Miro just fought off a Ridden, a mysterious, flaming figure is summoned at last.

Akihabara and Miro were finally in peace. They both walked down a road that lead the coffee shop, looking as the sun was setting. Suddenly, Aki heard her ringtone and instantly took out her phone, seeing the caller's name as private.  _'Ah, is that guy again. He probably already found out that Lee is a Reaper now.'_ She answered the call, hearing a husky voice of a masked man.

"Hey, Nitara." The husky voice sounded through the phone.

"Heyo, Lucien. I told you not to call me Nitara. I let you call me by my name, Akihabara." Aki replied, walking a bit slower than usual.

"Whatever, let me get to the point. Why did you let that stupid little kid become a Reaper? Do you realise that he would be useless in a fight? He has no muscle, no brains." Lucien replied, clearly angered. "Unless you can change that within 10 days, I will personally hunt him down and confiscate the Item from him."

"He got marked. Thats why I let him have the gauntlets. To protect himself. Give him time and he will train up and learn how to use those heavy things efficiently. They're only newly made so they're low level."

"Of course, of course. Nitara making up the excuses. Either way, my katars leveled up. No excuses to turn away from the Riddening now." He huffed. "Drop the call. I have things to steal."

"Fine then. Lucien, take care of yourself." She dragged the phone away from her ear and pressed the 'end call' button. She caught up with Miro and shot her a smile.

"Did the thief call?" Miro asked, referring to Lucien as 'thief', because he used to steal things. Aki nodded, but didn't want to mention what the call contained. While they made their way to the coffee shop, they discussed what they wanted to buy and negotiated the split of the money. They both managed to 'split the bill' evenly and went to buy their drinks. 

"Americano?" Aki looked at Miro, quite surpised. Miro nodded, looking at Aki seriously.

"Hot Chocolate?" Miro mocked her, acting surprised. Aki always got hot chocolate, whatever shop it was at, same as Miro. It was extremly rare for them to get any type of coffee. 

"Obviously." Aki chuckled, paying for the drinks and sitting down. "I'm gonna daydream from a bit." She took a sip of the hot liquid, burning herself a little. 

_'With the slow and gradual approach of the Ridden Shadow, I'm gonna have to teach Lee so many more things. How to actually utilise those things. If he learns how to use them properly and gets taken over by a Ridden, everyone around him is dead. One thing that bothers me though. If the gauntlets got used to him instantly, that's fine. But if they didn't, that's gonna be a little problem. But judging by what happened earlier, and that they didn't reject, things should be okay. But anyway, let's not assume things too early into the game. I mean... His gauntlets do have a Reaper inside of them to try and suppress the Riddening from coming towards him.'_

* * *

While Lee was back and resting at the hospital, he kept on staring at the leather gloves that he was given. ' _What do I do now? I got these but I can't move much. Nor can I use these because they're so heavy.'_ He put the gloves on his hands and decided to break in the leather, stretching his fingers a bit and doing basic exercises. He noticed that the printing resembled something like a demonic head with some kind of wings going out to the sides.  _'Huh. This looks awfully familiar.'_ He stared at the red printing against the darkened leather. He decided to grab his phone and look up things about Reapers, if he could find anything, that is.

"Nothing much..." He muttered, scrolling through pages and pages about the fictional Grim Reapers, some of which were conspiracies, sightings or stories. Gripping the hospital bedsheets tighter and tighter in anticipation of finding  _something_ about what he was dealing with, he got struck by a realisation.  _'Why don't I just ask Aki? That's the easier option.'_ Lee facepalmed himself. "I'm so dumb..." He sighed, his back still a bit fragile from the stitches. 

"Lee, just so you know, you should strengthen your body after you get discharged. I recommend strength training by the way." The doctor gave a thumbs up. Lee looked up from his phone and nodded.

"What kind of strength training though? What should I focus on? My back? Arms? Legs? Whole body?" Lee shut his phone off, letting go of the grip on the bed sheets.

"At your age, your whole body. But with your condition, you should focus on your back a little more compared to the rest of your body. Once your back looks all good, the whole body will go with the flow. You back is what holds you up mainly, with your legs, so have them the strongest." The doctor waved at him. "Gotta get back to work." Lee nodded at the statements and went back to looking at his phone. 

A weird feeling overcame Lee, as if something was gripping to his forearms. Shrugging it off, he carried on scrolling, eventually giving up with searching for information and looking through his social media pages. As he was a crazy cat-fnatic, most of his Instagram feed was of cats, as compared to his Facebook, which was filled with boyish things, which he kind of hated. He didn't specifically go on Facebook anyway. The weird feeling carried on up his arms and crawling across his shoulders, a stronger tingling sensation beginning to spread across his cut. Once the tingling sensation subsided and the grip on his forearms lightened, the mark that was on both of the gloves bursted into crimson flames. He jumped, standing up and walking to the bathroom, the second safest and private space to be able to go to.

When he arrived in the bathroom, he looked at the flames that were basically pulsating. He summoned his gauntlets, a demonic creature appearing to be coming off of the marks that were on the backs of his hand. A little startled, he tried to let go of the gauntlets to change them back to gloves again, but the dark crimson creature held onto Lee's arms.

"Calculations... All these numbers going through your head... I can see them. Your fears... I impersonate them. Work with me and we'll be such a great team. Do you know what the hell I am?" The demon spoke in a low and harsh voice.

"Are you... A-"

"Reaper? Yes, boy. I'm stuck here like a little bitch. Infused into these gloves or gauntlets through a seal created by Akihabara Nitara. That vile creature stuffed me into here. The only way I can get out is through you, boy. Little do you know about Reapers and The Riddening, do you, boy?" The Reaper tried to get to the point.

"N-no... All I know is what a Reaper Item is."

"Throughout the next week, I will teach you so much, that you will transcend the knowledge of Miro Tachibana. First, since I know pretty much everything about you since connecting with your body, I should tell you about myself. I'm Amayachi Rin."

"Night rain... Blood... Cold." Lee muttered under his breath. Those were all the meanings of Amayachi Rin.

"Yes, at least you know the meanings. I was a Reaper once. Yes, yes, as this may be a shock, I used to have these exact gauntlets. That's before Akihabara Nitara killed me while in the middle of a deadly fight with a Ridden. When a Reaper dies, it soul is locked into a crystal. That crystal can be used to rebirth the Reaper, but there's only a 50% chance of that becoming a possibility. Its rare to find reborn Reapers. I was reborn into the damned confinements of gloves. If you look closely, the mark that is on the leather glove isn't just red dye - its the crushed up crystals of me, sewed on with such precision that all of the tiny little crystal specks can focus enough power to draw me out of hiding. Just to warn you, the gauntlets that you carry have killed many Riddenings, and want to kill more. Right. I cant be out in the open for so long. Good to know you, Lee Wu Shang." Amayachi's crimson, flaming body bowed.

Lee looked gobsmacked, but still managed to bow. "Rin, how much will I be able to know about you?" He asked, looking into the eyes of the flaming beast.

"Soon enough, you'll be able to know everything. Just wear these gloves when you go to sleep tonight." A flaming grin formed among the dark crimson flames. "Goodnight, Lee. Just let go of the past grudges." The gauntlets slipped off of Lee's hands and shrinked to gloves. He put them back on and the same feeling of a grip appeared on his forearms.

In an unimaginable hurry, Lee grabbed the phone that was in his pocket and began to text Aki. 'Aki, who is Amayachi Rin?' He texted.

* * *

Aki soon broke from her daydream, glaring at her phone. Miro had closed eyes but kept on drinking her Americano. After a staring game with her phone, Aki looked at the text message and noticed it was from Lee, with the context of 'Aki, who is Amayachi Rin?' She took a deep, strenuous breath. Aki began to type, 'She's a friend of mine that used to be a gauntlet-wielder. Her attacks were wild. She used to be smarter than Miro and me combined. Her strength was almost like mine.' Aki replied, keeping the text message short, without providing too many details.

Lee jumped as a text message arrived to him. After seeing it was from Aki, he instantly opened it and read the message. Although he was disappointed at how short it was, he could at least know the gender of the Reaper he was going to be with for the rest of his life.

Aki and Miro both looked at the sky from the window. There was a mixture of purples, reds, oranges and pinks, which were soothing to both of their minds. Aki finished her hot chocolate and placed the glass on the tray that it was served on. Miro stirred the last of what was in her cup and swallowed it down, also placing it on the tray. They both got up at the same time and left the table, walking outside and looking up at the gradients of colours.

"They're so damned beautiful, these. Sunsets. The sky in general." Aki chuckled, stopping to look at the view. Miro nodded in agreement. "I'll drop you off at your house for once." Aki looked down at Miro and they both made their way to Miro's home. 

The thought of Amayachi - Aki's own fighting buddy ending up with Lee was a bit difficult for Aki to imagine. She ruffled her hair a little in thought, staring at the ground that she was walking on, her shoes gently tapping the surface of each large tile, the tapping echoing in Aki's mind. Miro looked at her, worried.

"Aki? Are you okay?" Miro asked, her cute voice making Aki look at her warmly. 

"Yeah, of course. I'm just a little tired. That's it, honestly." Aki had a bead of sweat make it's way down her temple. Miro tilted her head in question. 

"No you're not. You can stay over at mine if you don't feel so well." Miro crossed her arms, making Aki blush considerably.

"N-n-no! I'll be fine walking back to my house." A yawn crept up as the colours from the sky began to fade away as the sun drew closer and closer to falling beneath the west horizon.

* * *

During that night, as soon as Lee had fallen asleep, he began to dream of many things. He figured it was Amayachi projecting information to him. The first piece of information was a cute drawing.

' _Each Reaper Item was once a Reaper.'_  Was the title of the drawing. The drawing looked like it was of a human, and an arrow to a selection of weapons next to it. The next drawing showed up in his dream. A background voice soon erupted.

_"Each Reaper Item has a special ability. Ranged or not, a Reaper can never be left alone with a hidden set of skills."_

_'Akihabara Nitara was the creator of the Reapers and Riddening.'_ There was a drawing of Akihabara in a school uniform and a large, muscular green-skinned troll.

 _'The Riddening represent the nightmares that have been created during the last twelve hours in the world. Each one varies.'_  The drawing that was there was a creepy black figure and a very detailed painting of a titan-like creature.

_'There is a representative Reaper for each continent of the world.'_

_"Basic grammar. Ridden: singular. Riddening: Plural. Reap the rewards in English class."_

_'Being marked by a Ridden as a human is dangerous. That is why Reapers exist.'_

_'Resonance is possible with the Reaper Item. This is a one time thing before the Reaper Item will destroy itself from too much spiritual pressure. Some experienced Reapers may do this more than once, but only years apart.'_

_'Reapers nearby: Akihabara Nitara. Miro Tachibana. Lee Wu Shang. Lucien Degas.'_ A distortion sounded after the last name.

_'Three main worlds in current existence: Real World, Spirit World, The Riddening World.'_

_'The Riddening World is filled with Riddening. It is where Riddening land after they have been reaped by Reapers. Travelling to the world is almost impossible unless dragged in by the Ridden Shadow.'_

_'The Ridden Shadow is the 'Lord' of the Riddening World. He travels to the Real world once every decade. He may or may not drag in Reapers. When the Ridden Shadow is nearby, Riddening as far as 100km are enhanced and empowered by their Lord's aura.'_

Soon, Lee's dream cut off. He lifted himself from the bed, looking around the dark room. 

"Why am I needing to know such things... I just wanted t-" He passed out falling asleep again, and being showed the living hours of Amayachi Rin.

 

_"Amayachi Rin, Unholy blood. Akihabara Nitara. Holy Reign."_

 

 


	3. Unholy Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story of Amayachi Rin.

Amayachi Rin, being born into the royal family, was instantly thrown into the pool of people that were supposed to take the throne. With that in mind, Amayachi strived for a healthy life, so that she could take the throne for as long as possible to carry her family's name.

Ever since they were young, Akihabara and Amayachi have been really good friends. Not only did both of them come from wealthy families, they lived close enough to each other to see each other each day. Amayachi was always slightly jealous of Aki, because she didn't have to wear princess gowns and tacky clothing.

At 4, Amayachi and Aki went to the same school and even ended up in the same class. Their lunch breaks were usually filled with things they found and newly forged gossip that came from the drama corner of the school.

When they were 10, Aki thought of a new idea. "Hey, Amayachi, ever thought of Grim Reapers being real?" Aki opened a book filled with ideas of weapons and styles of fighting. Amayachi shook her head, sipping orange juice from her juice box.

"Never. What, are you going to create them?" Amayachi glanced at the notes. Aki looked up at her and nodded very passionately.

"What could go wrong? We'll have weapons and protect people from danger." Aki flipped through her pages.

"Don't you know the law? To exist, something needs to have an opposing force, or a counterbalance. If we create reapers that are good, something is going to come along to balance that out, so that reapers can actually exist. Ever thought of that, Aki?" Amayachi finished her drink and crushed the box, shooting it into a bin that was close to her. Aki sat in thought for a minute.

"I don't know what the counterbalance should be. I'll just see what it will be." Aki shrugged, making Amayachi roll her eyes.

"Lets do it anyway. Dreams aren't supposed to be stopped." Amayachi smiled, making Aki's eyes light up. Aki hugged Amayachi, in anticipation that she will help her.

   


After about a month of gathering more information and materials to create Aki's idea, they sat in the middle of a ruined tower, right about the middle of the day. They drew out an enchanting circle with some finely-cut magnesium, and materials to create two, distinct weapons that were one of a kind. Gauntlets and a scythe. 

The first, pure, soul-less Grim Reaper weapons were about to be created. They wouldn't have been created with the soul of a Grim reaper, but from raw, rare materials that would make them pure. And the whole magnesium enchanting ring would create light and heat, that would make the weapons forge themselves.

"Ready?" Amayachi smiled, holding the lighter in her hand, slowly lowering it to the ring of magnesium. Aki grinned and lowered her lighter down to the magnesium ring as well. 

"3..." Aki started the countdown, her thumb over the flint of the lighter.

"2..." Amayachi was ready for the burst of light to blind her.

"1..." Both of them paused slightly before turning the flint quickly and pressing the spark, creating fire, and lighting the magnesium at the same time. The bright light rapidly spread throughout the whole ring, lighting up each letter that was there.

They both closed their eyes and began to imagine how their weapons would look like and how they would behave. A violent but small explosion threw both of them back a little as their weapons began to be forged. With their thoughts unwavered, they both focused heavily. Aki anticipated that their weapons would take a while to become forged.

Amayachi opened her eyes slightly, her dark crimson eyes reflected the light that was being caused by the magnesium, her face soon turning into a frown as she felt blood surging unusually rapidly through her body.

Aki's scythe was being forged with the light that was coming off of the magnesium. Aki never knew what was going to be happening to Amayachi by this point. She was too focused on materialising her weapon with her thoughts.

Amayachi soon felt excruciating pain coming from her hands and soon saw thin strings of blood floating towards her weapon. With wide, glazed eyes, her slack-jaw expression soon looked at her hand, the thin strings of blood being hers.  _'There's no way to stop it either...'_  Amayachi gulped, seeing her two gauntlets soon be printed onto the ground. 

_'Why is this happening to me? Aren't I supposed to be royal? Aren't I supposed to be the unharmed princess?'_  Her thoughts made her feelings waver more and more, making the forging of her gauntlets unstable.

A burst of light and dark emitted from the ring, marking the finish of the forging. Aki came hurrying over to the ring to see their weapons, and there it was. A key and two, black leather gloves. She picked up the key, thinking that it would be the scythe. After looking up, she saw Amayachi coughing from the floating magnesium oxide in the air. 

"Amaya?" Aki walked up to her carefully. Amayachi lifted her head so that Aki could see her freckles, but not her eyes. 

"You never told me that this could be forged with something different than light." She lifted her hand to expose dots on her hand that were still bleeding. Aki gasped, her mind going blank.

"Amaya..." She kneeled down and hugged the young princess. "I never knew... I'm so sorry..." She sobbed, the sitting girl hugging her back. 

"It's okay. After all, we all have to suffer through something to gain another thing, don't we?" Amayachi smiled, a few tears making their way down the curve of her cheek. "Anyway. Let me get my weapon. Shove off." Amayachi chuckled, playfully pushing Aki away from her and getting up, running over to her gloves. She picked them up and put them on almost as soon as she touched them.

"Amaya, look." Aki held her key, trying to figure out a way to activate her weapon. After some trial and error, she flipped the key through all four of her fingers, a large scythe forging in a flurry of crystals and ice. The coldness of the scythe soon spread throughout Aki's whole body as the scythe 'accepted' Aki as it's meister. 

"Cool! Now, look at this!" Amayachi called, attempting to summon her gauntlets. She clapped her hands briefly, and, starting from the fingertips, the gauntlets began to take shape. The flames that emitted from her hands soon looked like big, metal hands, tinted in a dark red colour. "See these?" She waved the gauntlets around, jumping and slamming the ground with a reasonable amount of force, a small indent in the ground appearing. Aki's jaw hung to the floor, taking a strong grip on her scythe.

She attempted to spin the scythe around her waist and then lifted it so that the scythe spun around her palm above her head. She gripped it instinctively when she felt like it was going to fall. Amayachi clapped, smiling.

   


About a week later, Amayachi and Aki were messing around, with their Reaper Items in their hands. 

"Are you sure that normal people can't see these?" Amayachi glanced at her friend, her gloves on her hands. Aki nodded.

"Just the smaller form. Not the reaper form. I think. I hope." Aki chuckled. A very strong tremble overcame them, freezing them both in place. "What's...? An earthquake?" Aki looked around, the sky slowly turning darker and cloudier.

Amayachi gasped silently as dark, spine-chilling figures looked like they were walking over to them. Aki nor Amayachi summoned their Reaper weapons yet, as it might just be a storm of protesters. Although their initial thoughts were wrong.  _'Is this the counterbalance?'_   Aki thought, clutching her key.

Amayachi, without second thought, summoned her gauntlets with a clap and ran at the creatures, beating them up one by one. Aki stood in the back, staring at her friend battling the monsters.  _'Fear.'_  The word echoed in both of their minds, causing Aki to move, swirling her key in her fingers, the icy flurry forming her familiar scythe. They have both been practicing with their weapons every day, so they knew how to use them more than efficiently. 

Aki jumped at a large, fanged, troll-like thing, and cut it down pretty quickly. The creature dissipated in a bunch of squares. 

After a while, when the two girls finally defeated the group of creatures. They sat down on the ground, trying to catch their breaths. 

"What they hell are they? Normal people just passed through them like butter." Amayachi let go of her gauntlets, the gauntlets transforming back to their previous state, the leather gloves.

"Fears, I guess. I mean... We did get rid of them. How about Riddening? Since... Y'know, we get rid of them, so..." Aki let go of her scythe, catching the key in mid-air. Amayachi laughed a little at the name. 

"Sure. We can go along with it."

   


At 14, the two girls sat around an abandoned house, that was relatively ruined. They were staring at their reaper items, waiting for a certain thing to come and sweep them. 

"Hey, do you know when he's supposed to come around?" Amayachi looked at her battle partner.

"In 5 minutes. It's not midnight yet, calm yourself." Aki took a deep breath, releasing some of her stresses. They were waiting for the Prince of the Ridden, who came around each year or so. The dark red atmosphere demonstrated that he was supposed to come around soon. The Prince of the Ridden was like the evil, yet hot boyfriend of Aki's, who was also her fear because she would always be scared about what could happen to her.

As soon as it became midnight, the two girls summoned their weapons. In a burst of ice and fire, the two prepared themselves for the worst. 

The Prince of the Riddening came over and ripped a hole in the sky, going through it and landing behind Aki. His small crown that was atop of his head soon disappeared and transformed into a sword. Amayachi came running at the Prince, punching him straight in the stomach. 

"Amaya! Don't fight him! The only person that can do some kind of damage to him is me!" Aki called, seeing Amayachi being punched right back by the Prince, the sword cutting at her thigh.

"Aki, don't interfere." Amayachi gave a low growl at Aki, regaining her balance. She lunged at the Prince again, punching him in the head and punching him upwards, grabbing him in mid-air and slamming him to the ground again. Although the Prince suffered a reasonable amount of damage, he counter-attacked her by jumping upwards and slashing at her at an angle, causing Amayachi to fall with a loud thump.

Aki glared at the Prince. "Drive that fear deep into your mind, and disappear!" Aki yelled, holding her scythe loosely behind her back, ready to sweep the Prince. Before she could stop, Amayachi got up and attacked the Prince, getting in the way. 

Through a single sweep of her Scythe, she hit both the Prince and Amayachi with her blade. Aki, looking at her battle partner in sheer fear, soon saw that her gauntlets began to shatter into blood red crystals. That meant the end for the Reaper's life. 

Aki instantly let go of her scythe, the weapon shrinking into a decorative key, running over to her battle partner.

"Amayachi..." The girl muttered, her body soon dispersing into tiny flame wisps, commemorating for each Ridden she has killed throughout her life. The crystals that shattered from the gauntlets soon formed into one with the flame wisps. The product of the crystals and the wisps was a clump of dark red crystals. Cradling the crystal like it was her baby, she took her key and ran back home with it, crying hysterically.

As soon as Aki got home, she placed the crystal next to her key, regretting all the times that the two fought, and relived cherished memories again.

* * *

Lee woke up, his mind in a clutter. He realised he still had the gloves on. Putting his head in his hands, he looked shaken by what he had just seen.

"What the fuck..." He muttered, looking up and seeing that he was still in the hospital. 

_'Prince of Ridden, Ridden Shadow... What the hell are all these things...'_


	4. Nameless

A familiar sound overcame Lee's ears as he entered the school once again after being discharged from the hospital. A group of his friends ran up to him and began to cheer him.

"Hey Lee! You're back!" One of them called.

"What happened? Why were you gone for so long?" Another one of them asked. Many questions filled his mind from the small crowd, overwhelming his thought processes.

"I just cut myself a little, I'm fine." Lee brought himself to squeak out an answer, looking a little more concerned than a few seconds ago. He took a deep breath and looked up at the crowd. "I'm gonna go now. " He squeezed the straps of his bag in anxiousness. The small group turned around to look at him walking towards the school building, Lee's shoulders hunched and one hand in his pocket, the other clutching onto the bag strap on his shoulder, his head hanging low, compared to how he usually looked like.

"Maybe there's something wrong with him?" One of Lee's friends looked at him, skeptical. The others nodded and shook their heads, some crossing their arms and others completely confused about the situation.

As Lee disappeared into the building, he reached into his bag and put on the familiar, fingerless gloves, the exact same feeling overcoming his forearms as it has previously. He flexed his fingers a few times, the leather hugging onto the skin of his hands.

Aki was already in class, sitting on a desk, reading through a manga that she found lying on the floor in one of the hallways. Miro was sitting opposite of Aki, messing around with her dual-coloured hair. Lucien was also sitting in the same class, but on the windowsill, scrolling through his phone. His black bandana that covered his face was decorated with white swirls and scattered with stars.

"Guys." Aki lifted her vision from the manga and looked at the two. "When Lee comes over, ambush him." Lucien and Miro looked up from their activites and nodded. Aki smirked a little, looking down at her manga again, her key hidden in between the pages, Miro's hairpins in her hair and Lucien's two bracelets around his wrists.

After a small, short walk, Lee appeared in front of the 3-B classroom. He slid open the door forcefully, Miro taking her hairpins out, her two blades forming. Aki's key slipped out from in between the pages of her manga and she spun the key around in her fingers, her scythe soon forming into its familiar shape. The cold aura that radiated off of her scythe made the room cold enough to make a normal human's body slow. Lucien on the other hand, slammed his hands on the desk that was in front of him. The bracelets disappeared from his wrists, followed by a flash of golden light from his hands. The golden light soon became his katars.

"Kuro." Miro pointed the tip of her blade in the direction of Lee, lightning black lightning coming from a small crystal in the hilt of the sword, that was the same as her hairpins. The lightning gathered at the tip of the blade, then fired off in a ball of black fire in the general direction of where Lee was.

In quick succession, Lee threw his bag at Aki's hands to try and prevent her from summoning her scythe. He noticed Miro firing off a ball of what he thought can be harmful, and clapped his hands as close to the ball as possible to try and negate the attack. Although he did negate the attack, the force of his clap threw him off guard, making it easy for Lucien to attack.

Lucien leaped at Lee, his body turning on an axel, the points of his katars touching. Flying in mid-air at an opponent was Lucien's favourite way to attack. Lee deflected the attack by lifting his hand up and letting Lucien spin into his palm. Although the initial impact hurt a bit because it strained Lee's bones so much, Lee didn't give up. To follow up his block, he punched Lucien's stomach as soon as he stopped spinning, sending Lucien flying up into the air.

After Lucien got flung up into the air, he regained his balance and pointed his katars at Lee again. Lee stopped the attack with his palm again and pushed Lucien away a little, generating distance, pointing his index finger at Lucien. Lee mouthed 'Amayachi', and two sets of crimson sharp teeth erupted from his index finger, chomping down on Lucien's arm, the crimson teeth leaving a small trail of black flames. Then, the teeth faded away.

Miro stepped in for Lucien, who went back to his corner again, looking at Lee's fighting skills. Lee waited for another attack, one of his hands near his face and the other down low, guarding his body.

Miro quickly scanned for an opening and decided to attack his feet. She swept Lee off of his feet with her sword, giving him a few seconds to get up. Lee got up in an unimaginable hurry, walking towards Miro. She swung her sword at Lee, but Lee blocked it just in time, a small black flame coming off of the gauntlets.

 _'Amayachi's getting back into this.'_ Lee smirked, making Miro looked surprised and concerned. She jumped into the air to do an aerial attack, making Lee jump as well. Following his instincts, he pulled himself forward in mid-air by punching Miro gently. He fell to the ground, Miro slamming the ground with an audible thump.

Aki huffed, walking towards Lee. On the other hand, Lee raised himself from the floor, looking at Aki with a piercing glare. 

"Why'd you decide to ambush me right in the morning?" Lee asked, the quiet footsteps of Aki annoying his ear.

"Simple. To train you." Aki replied, a small smirk on her mouth. She let go of her scythe, a small burst of ice crystals forming back into the key. Lee let go of his gauntlets, the gauntlets engulfing themselves in flames. The similar leather gloves soon uncovered themselves from the fire. 

"Am I that weak?" Lee grunted. "I'll just get stronger then." He made quite the smug remark for his gentle personality. Aki nodded, walking up to Miro and helping her up. 

"I'll personally train you. Also, we will attack you from time to time. At any given time. So, be prepared." Aki smiled, seeing Miro's two blades transform back into her hairpins. "You've got all the rights to be skeptical. But please, the Ridden Shadow is on its way." Looking down at an angle, Lee nodded.

"How strong is the Ridden Shadow?" Lee asked, clenching his fists.

"Think of my strength, times five. And honestly, you havent seen me at my strongest. So, is that imaginable?" Aki looked up at him, her voice unusually calm. The statement made Lee more than uncomfortable. It froze him in place. 

"That means... I'm a fly compared to the Ridden Shadow..." Lee took a deep breath. "Anyway. Let's get this class sorted before some teacher comes in. Lucien, did my fangs hurt you at all?" Lee turned to look at the window, where Lucien was.

"No." Lucien glared at Lee, the bandana over his face covering up some of his emotions. Lucien's way of speaking was toneless and monotone, as if he wasn't amused by anything in the world. Lee nodded weakly in response. 

* * *

After lessons finished, the small group of Reapers left the school grounds. The group of five walked down to the nearest store to pick up some snacks.

"Lee." Aki looked at him as she picked out a box of juice.

"Yeah?" He turned his vision to look at her, mindlessly holding a jar of pickles.

"Are you going to buy those pickles?" She sighed, making Lee jump and put the pickles back on the shelf, embarrassed. "Anyway. Moving on. Come with me afterwards, okay? I'll start training you." She turned back to look at the selection of juices. Lee nodded, taking a small bag of crisps and going to pay for it. He did so and left the shop, ripping the bag open carefully.

"I look like a potato that got run over." Lee muttered to himself, staring at the open bag of crisps. "I need to stop looking like that." His own self-praise filled him with determination.

_'I must stop looking like a potato to make myself worthy of battling the Ridden Shadow.'_

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter. Writers block. Thanks for reading though!


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